The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1887-03-19

gon. Lake Tahoma is some thre
miles long and one mile wide, ant
in the center has been sounded t,
a depth of over 1000 feet withou
finding bottom. Besides thes'
many lakes there are many
FINE HOT SPRINGS
Scattered throughout the territory
containing minerals of varioul
kinds and are fast becoming nOtet
for their health-giving properties
and some day in the near future
when there are suitable transporta
ton facilities, will be greatly sough,
for health and summer resorts. Ir
these grand old mountains thu
hunter can find plenty of bear
wolf, deer, antelope and other game
and in the valleys can be found any
amount of grouse, sage hens, etc.
while all the rivers and lakes are
abundantly supplied with speckled
and salmon trout. Taken as q
whole, it would be hard to find any
territory better supplied with fine
lands, timber, scenery, game, fish
water and water power, finer eli
mate than Idaho is to-day, and
there is plenty of room for thou
sands of families, and in case they
should come, they will need many
articles and goods for carrying on
farming and numbering operations.
At present two lines Of railway
pass through this territory-the
Northern Pacific through the north
ern part and the Oregon Short Line
through the southern part-and al
ready farming machinery is begin
ming to be brought in here from the
east by the carload.
THE FIRST GOLD FOUND
In Idaho was ON Orc Fino creek, q
tributary of the Clearwater river, in
the fall of 1860, by Capt. Pierce, of
California, and in the spring of the
following year $500 in gold dust
was sent down to Portland and the
news spread rapidly and in the
spring of '62 the grand rush began
for the mines, and soon the rich
placers of Salmon river were found
further south, in which, it is said
on good authority, that near Baboon
gulch as high as 200 ounces of
gold was taken out Of one claim in
two hours and that for that year
there was 100000 in gold dust
shipped out by express, besides
vast sums sent out by other ways.
When we look at this enormous
of gold collected in such a
short space of time it is not to be
at that there was such a
great stampede to the diggings. In
the year 1852 there was said to be
25, 900 men scattered through the
Salmon river placers, and before
the camp was year old thirty men
had died in their boots. as these
new camps were the favorite re-
sorts of gamblers and cut-throats,
who found it very convenient to be
always on the move, and. as fast
as one camp was worked out, al
ways followed the crowd to the new
for they had followed this
kind of life so long that it had al
most become second nature to live
in tented city and to be always in
advance of civilization, and when
we consider the rowing life these
miners led, surrounded by dangers
on every side. never fearing man
or beast, hunger or thirst, the dry,
parched plains of Arizona or the
cold, freezing mountains of Mon
tana winter in their tireless search
for gold, it is not to be wondered
at that some of them become rough,
men; but to-day you
can find q few of these same pio-
neers. their heads and boards
whitened with age, scattered among
the various mining camps; and as
a class they are the poorest in
worldly goods of any in the place,
but when it comes to wanting men
who have the nerve to do brave
act they are always in the lead, and
will share their last meal or their
last dollar with the needy. In the
fall of 1862 a party of twelve dis
covered the placer mines Of
BOISE BASIN,
And such was the excitement that
by January /, '63, 5000 had arrived
at the basin, in spite of the deep
snow, and over $2O,OOO,OOO were
soon taken from the shallow beds
of Grimes and More creeks. In
1863, the Owyhee mines were found, ,
and were just beginning to be devel-
oped when the failure of the Bank
Of California caused operations to
become crippled, and, together with
and mismanagement, the
camp came to q stand-still. but
enough work had been done to
prove to the world that Owyhee
contains some of the richest quartz
mines in the world. The celebrated
Poorman mine is in this district,
and the first shipment of ore from
this mine in 1865, to the amout Of
100 fona Welded 00M. A 15-f0n